The idea currently exists in our fiction (which is one form of reality) that there might exist human-like beings out, living on other planets with different features and levels of intelligence.

Suppose that these aliens don't actually exist out there, do you think eventually with further exploration into space, and the possible habitation of other planets we might actually evolve into the very "aliens" we created in fiction?

This thread is really intended to operate as a general discussion about space exploration, the existence of intelligent aliens, (or not) and our ability to evolve or explore beyond our current environment.

It's possible but it would assume one of two things: either a population of humans on a foreign planet gets cut off from civilisation (meaning they don't have access to medicine, mass-produced foods, etc.) in such a way that it creates a survival-of-the-fittest type situation or we get to the point where we genetically modify ourselves to be able to live in environments that would've otherwise been uninhabitable for us. Otherwise no because there'd be no significant selection factors driving our evolution.

Without our senses, we can't experience the world. But maybe if we had other senses, there would be more we could experience. So what if, somewhere, out in all the blackness of space, there is so much that we just can't sense, because we don't have the right... idk, means to sense it.

I really question if there is more to our existence than being in a body... it's so confusing.

^There isn't. Our lives are meaningless, we are no more or less significant than a grain of sand and until we develop the technology to upload ourselves to a computer, our consciousness is inherently tied to our body and cannot possibly exist outside of it (meaning when your neural activity ceases, your consciousness is gone and when your brain structure has started decaying it can no longer be "reactivated").

^There isn't. Our lives are meaningless, we are no more or less significant than a grain of sand and until we develop the technology to upload ourselves to a computer, our consciousness is inherently tied to our body and cannot possibly exist outside of it (meaning when your neural activity ceases, your consciousness is gone and when your brain structure has started decaying it can no longer be "reactivated").

So you think the brain is the creator of the ability to perceive, or be conscious?

So, without that, which is us, our awareness, we are essentially "asleep". In other words, nothingness & eternity in the blink of an eye?

So you think the brain is the creator of the ability to perceive, or be conscious?

So, without that, which is us, our awareness, we are essentially "asleep". In other words, nothingness & eternity in the blink of an eye?

But doesn't that awareness have to go somewhere? What is it?

edit: Isn't it possible

Consciousness isn't some sort of magical entity, there's no such thing as a soul or a spirit. Consciousness is the result of electrical and chemical signals being transmitted through neural pathways/brain cells/etc. Those cells are made up of molecules which are made up of atoms and so on and so forth and those particles our cells are made of are "repurposed" when we die and our body decays. However, things like our personality, our memories, our identity are all directly linked to and determined by the physical components of our brain. Essentially, you are your brain. Asking whether your consciousness lives on after your brain is destroyed is like asking whether a computer still works after you've smashed it to pieces.

Consciousness isn't some sort of magical entity, there's no such thing as a soul or a spirit. Consciousness is the result of electrical and chemical signals being transmitted through neural pathways/brain cells/etc. Those cells are made up of molecules which are made up of atoms and so on and so forth and those particles our cells are made of are "repurposed" when we die and our body decays. However, things like our personality, our memories, our identity are all directly linked to and determined by the physical components of our brain. Essentially, you are your brain. Asking whether your consciousness lives on after your brain is destroyed is like asking whether a computer still works after you've smashed it to pieces.

With regards to the consciousness that is us, surely it's not individualized or characterized by anything more than what it focuses on, and in this sense we can kill our identity off all the time. Our identity changes already, as we "grow" to the extent that one cannot relate to themselves earlier. And so, in this sense, that consciousness, or the ability to be aware, is no different between me and everyone else, or anything else with the ability to be conscious.